


Smiling mask

by Tiria_the_Normal_Psychopath



Series: UraIchi prompt challenge 2018 #2 [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Also something that can be generously called fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Can't forget about those, Feelings, If you can call it that way when it's this short, Light Angst, M/M, Those two are just too intense and sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 09:49:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17343113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiria_the_Normal_Psychopath/pseuds/Tiria_the_Normal_Psychopath
Summary: One learnt through the years.Other instinctively knew.





	Smiling mask

**Author's Note:**

> This work was based on two prompts from the UraIchi prompt challenge #2:  
> \- The quote: “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” ~ The Great Gatsby  
> \- The word "smile".
> 
> Hope you like it!

When it came to loneliness, Kisuke knew his fair share. Respected but shunned for his ideas and experiments in Soul Society, he grew used to it. Learnt to live with it. He chose a role striking but harmless enough - if one wasn't looking too closely. If one didn't want to look too closely.

 

There weren't many who could see Kisuke abandon his mask in favour of wearing his true face. Those that could had their own masks to hold onto. This way, Kisuke learnt to be alone.

 

When he found himself in jail for a crime he didn't commit, his mask slipped away. When he fled to the Human World with friends and colleagues who would refuse to look him in the eye, the mask shattered. That way, Kisuke learnt to be lonely.

 

So Kisuke would rebuild his life around his failure and smile happy and false at everyone who cared to look. Kisuke would also learn to be even more of a pain in the ass in the decades that followed.

 

But then there came a man who would look him straight in the eye, call him out on his mistakes and refuse to leave things unsaid. With Ichigo, there was no chance of feeling lonely.

 

With Kurosaki Ichigo, Kisuke's mask would disappear.

* * *

 

When it came to love, Ichigo didn't know much. He couldn't tell you how it made him feel, what was the reason behind his love or how many kinds of love was he capable of. 

 

He loved his sisters. He loved his mother. He had a strong affection with violent outbursts for his father.

 

Ichigo didn't know much about love but what he knew, he was certain of.

 

So when he was gasping on a training ground, his hands shaking and his sword laid next to him, he looked up and didn't question, didn't doubt. He saw a pale face that was bordering on unhealthy ashen. He saw blond hair darkened with sweat. He saw Urahara Kisuke, still standing, but breathing harder because Ichigo made him work for his victory this time. 

 

Ichigo looked up and he saw grey eyes clear of clouds of thought. He looked up and saw a smile that was a little broken, much too small and curled with pride and sadness at once.

 

Kurosaki Ichigo looked up at Urahara Kisuke to see his first honest smile in a century and felt a certainty tie itself into his soul.

 

Kurosaki Ichigo was in love with Urahara Kisuke.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this wasn't based on a prompt at all but when the challenge came around, it fit to one of the themes and well... This happened. 
> 
> I hope it was, at least partly, sappy enough to make you smile :)


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